College celebrates anniversary, refreshes image
Kurt Oberreither
-News Editor-
At the Nov. 17 Board of Trustees meeting, STLCC Director of Communications and the re-branding planning team DeLancey Smith presented STLCC’s plans to change the way the college is viewed on the inside and outside.
As STLCC prepares to celebrate the 50th year in the community, it is in the process of gathering data and to evaluate how students, the public, staff and faculty perceive the college. So far, the Strategic Communications Planning Team has finished screening the leadership team.
The re-branding team also plans to improve the college’s online presence with a “refreshing” of the STLCC website and an STLCC application for mobile phones.
Smith said the college will also analyze how the public and students view STLCC.
“We want people to have a sense of who we are,” Smith said. “We want them to understand our value in the community.”
Furthermore, Smith said the college is still not united in its image.
“Fifty years and people still think of us as separate [schools]; we’re not, we’re one college,” Smith said. “Although our theme is ‘one college, lifelong opportunities’ we want the public to see us that way, we want ourselves to see us that way and we felt it was the time to just say ‘one college.’”
Smith said the last study conducted was four years ago. Unlike the previous research, he would like to gather more quantitative data. He said the re-branding effort has found that the college is “too inwardly focused” and needs to identify the customer.
Student Jessica Thurston said she chose STLCC-Meramec because of its affordability and because her grades were not accepted at a university.
Along with the image STLCC will portray for years to come, the team is also focused on celebrating the college’s half decade of existence. The team is also in the process of finalizing that message.
For 2012, the team is focused on celebrating alumni success.
“1.2 million have gone through this institution and we have not done a good job of engaging alumni,” Smith said. “Our overarching purpose is to engage alumni like we never have.”
Smith said one way to engage alumni is to allow them to tell their story.
The team is planning to create a microsite for alumni to register and tell their success stories. The college will then be able to stay in contact with them to notify them of future alumni events.
Thurston said her story is her improvement as a student. Since coming to Meramec, Thurston has become more involved in her schooling and is an officer for Phi Theta Kappa, the student honors society.
“I think there [are] a lot of negative stigmas for community colleges in general so I think there’s a lot of positive aspects,” Thurston said. “So if students can talk about that, I think that’s beneficial.”
“You’d be surprised at the very successful people in St. Louis who would tell their story and say, ‘If it hadn’t been for St. Louis Community College, I’d never be where I am today’,” Smith said.
A few events, including a reception in March with campus leadership and retirees and a fall festival that will involve academic departments and the community, are planned in honor of the anniversary and to encourage alumni participation.
Smith said campus coordinators, campus life and student activities will work throughout the next year to develop activities to promote the anniversary.
Each campus will have its own ways of celebrating the anniversary, too, Meramec President George Wasson said. For example, Meramec will have a “memory board” that will display the school’s history from 1962 to 2012 in a high-traffic area, according to Wasson. STLCC plans on creating a time capsule in honor of the anniversary where students will have input on what goes inside.
“You’ll start seeing it more as you go. You’ll start seeing it, you know, when you get your stuff from the bookstore. You’ll see it on the website,” Wasson said.
STLCC communications works with a number of advising agencies, like Standing Partnership and 90 Degrees West to get an outside perspective.
“A third party view is often very important,” Smith said. “When you look at yourself in the mirror, you say, ‘I’m a pretty good-looking guy.’ Somebody else tells you, ‘Meh.’”
Thurston said one thing that should be better promoted is the one-on-one attention students get from teachers and Student Instructors (SI’s).
“I think the school has a lot to offer that students just don’t want to take advantage of,” Thurston said. “I think saving money is what it’s all about.”
Smith said the re-branding process is really about analyzing the perceptions of STLCC in the higher education marketplace.
“We want to emphasize that it doesn’t matter; we’re here for your entire lifetime. Fifty years is a lifetime and we expect to be here in another 50 years. We try to be responsive to our audience, customers, if you will,” Smith said.
